Starting this fall, UMBC will offer an undergraduate certificate in Project Management for Information Systems, a field Computer World magazine’s online publication recently listed as one of the top 20 “recession-proof” IT jobs in America.

“This is almost a complete turnaround from the economic downturn of 2000,” said Andrew Sears, professor and chair of information systems at UMBC. “Today, employers view skilled IT professionals as indispensable to their business, even during an economic slump.”

Project management is one of the fastest-growing professional disciplines in the U.S. Organizations in more than 160 countries rely on project management to create and update IT systems for business and government agencies due to rising costs and complexity for large-scale IT projects.

“The project management certificate reflects what is really happening in the IT jobs landscape,” said Sears. “It’s interesting that several other IT fields were also listed on the ‘recession-proof’ jobs list. These are exactly the types of relevant, stable career prospects for which we prepare UMBC students.”

The certificate, open to all majors, is designed primarily for students pursuing a B.S. in Information Systems and can be included within the current degree program. The 12-credit curriculum combines existing IS courses and allows students to gain critical knowledge needed to lead successful projects.

Degree-seeking students enrolled in the certificate will also obtain essential skills in key areas such as systems analysis and design, and project modeling, planning, scheduling and controlling. Students adding this certificate to existing skill sets provided by their majors will increase their level of focused study in Project Management and Information Systems and also enhance their employment prospects in this growing discipline.